


The World Through a Lamp Light

by KavityKiddo



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:41:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25592950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KavityKiddo/pseuds/KavityKiddo
Summary: Jamie just wants to find his son, but due to the trauma of his past and his recent loss it's been hard to find himself on the right track. Thanks to his friends in the Commonwealth he just might be able to deal with his trauma and get his son back. Even if trouble finds him in the middle of doing so.
Relationships: Deacon/Male Sole Survivor, Robert Joseph MacCready/Male Sole Survivor
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

### Hunter Hunted

"You're back. The Glowing Sea. Virgil. What happened?" Doctor Amari asks, concerned.   
"I found Virgil. He has a way inside the Institute, but I need a code from a Courser chip." I replied, scratching the back of my neck nervously.   
"A Courser chip? You fought a Courser? Oh my god," She replies, concern showing in her voice, "Unfortunately, I can't help you. I've worked on a lot of Synths, but never a Courser. I don't know what that chip does, let alone how to decode it. However, I may know the right people who just might." She draws her sentence out as if thinking aloud.   
"How can I find them?" I mention, worried about going on another aimless mission to come up empty handed.   
"I can't contact them directly. They usually come to me, when they have a synth that's escaped the Institute and wants new memories. However.. I do have a code phrase. Some kind of clue if I ever needed to find them on my own." She pauses, as if waiting for a response.   
"A code phrase? Are they some kind of secret community or something?" I reply, trying to break the tension in the room.   
"Sort of, the code is 'Follow the Freedom Trail'. I'm afraid that's all I have, I'm sure you don't want to wait around for one of their agents to come around again after all." She responds dutifully. I nod.  
"I suppose I'll just have to figure out what that means then." I sigh before hearing Hancock chuckle from behind me before coming up and nudging me on the shoulder.   
"Hey kid, you're the general of the damn Minutemen; you got a whole bunch of people who might be able to help." He says, I smirk before nodding.  
"You're right, if Preston made it all the way to Sanctuary from Quincy I'm sure he must know something, right?" Hancock smiles.  
"Only one way to find out." He says, making his way back towards doorway.   
"Looks like you've got a trip to plan, Jamie. Good luck." Doctor Amari concludes, ushering me out the door.   
"Thanks doc, I owe you one." I wave before heading out the door and up the stairs of the Memory Den, making my way through the front doors and out into the streets of Goodneigbor.

"So, Preston Garvey. He's still at Sanctuary right?" Hancock mentions as I close the door to the Memory Den.  
"Last I checked he was, I've been meaning to head back there anyway. I want to make sure everything is still running smoothly for them." We make our way past the Third Rail towards the entrance of the town, pausing to let someone pass.  
"Perfect timing then huh?" Hancock smirks again as we pass by Kleo in her shop.  
"Yeah I guess so, luckily it's only noon so we should be able to get close by nightfall." I mention, stopping to check the map on my pipboy.  
"Where to first?" Hancock says, opening the main entrance of Goodneigbor to let me pass through.  
"Let's head to Bunker Hill first, we could load up on supplies. I've been trying to catch up with Cricket to see what she's got recently." Hancock nods approvingly and we make our way into the Commonwealth.

By the time we make it to Bunker Hill it's well past 2pm, but that's due to the swarm of super mutants who ambushed us on our way there.  
"So, let me get this straight. Super mutants used to be human but somehow they ended up becoming a predominant race? How did that even happen?" I ask Hancock, making conversation as we made our way into the caravan town.  
"Yeah, basically they're just a dumb bigger version of ferals except they were hit with a virus instead of the radiation." He says, making it seem like common knowledge.  
"A virus? Like the flu or something?" Hancock sends a confused look my way.  
"The flu? What's that?" I stop, sending him a confused look of my own.  
"It's like a headcold but worse?" I chuckle to myself. "Wait did the flu actually die out?" Hancock tilts his head, looking at me like I just told him about an old world order or something.  
"I have no clue what you're going on about, you might wanna see a doctor to make sure the rads aren't getting to you. Can't have you taking the ghoul track like me." He mentions before continuing towards the center of town. I shrug and follow in suit. I barter with the traders for a while and end up with some circuit boards to upgrade the turrets before finally deciding to head out again.  
"You sure you don't wanna check in with the doctor while we're still here?" Hancock says playfully. I groan and kick at the dirt before smirking up at him, noticing a man watching me from the distance. He looks familiar but not in a friendly way, like I've seen him before but I'm not sure where. I play it off as we head back out of town and start making our way towards Lexington.

"Hey, Hancock, there's something I wanna ask you." We'd barely made distance from Bunker Hill before I decide to bring up the suspicious individual from the town.  
"What's up?" He says, speeding up to keep up with me.  
"Have you ever felt like you had a.. stalker before?" The word just slips out on its own, not sure as to how I was going to finish the sentence to begin with.  
"A stalker? Not really, why? You following someone?" He gushes as if it's an achievement of sorts.  
"No it's not like that it's just. Ever since I left the vault I've felt like someone has been following me. Not constantly or anything but it seems every time I end up in a major settlement I recognize one specific person?" I say, trying to piece my thoughts together.  
"You think someone's stalking you? I mean I guess that's fair considering all you've done since leaving that ice box of yours." I nod solemnly.  
"It started when I first got to Diamond City, there was this one guard who just stuck out to me. Like he didn't belong there but he acted like he did." As soon as the words leave my mouth I realize how suspicious it sounded.  
"A guard who doesn't belong there? I don't know if you've noticed but everyone there is pretty bad if you ask me." He says with a mocking tone in his voice.  
"Yeah Hancock I know you got your own drama with McDonough. But it's not like that, I even tried talking to him and he seemed different from the rest of them, like he was just there to be there." I glance up to see Hancock giving me another confused look.  
"Okay, what kind of stuff did he say to you?" He says, brushing off his confusion.  
"Just random things like 'welcome the great green jewel or whatever' that sort of thing." I mention, noticing how stupid it sounded.  
"Maybe he was just having an off day?" Hancock sighed.  
"That's not all though, I swear I saw the same guy in Goodneigbor too! He had changed into regular clothes though. And in Bunker Hill too." I say, exasperated about the situation at hand.  
"Well what's this mystery guy look like then?" He asks, interest growing in his voice.  
"Well when I first met him I remember he had a bald head, sunglasses, and he was wearing the regular guard armor," Hancock nods, "But in Goodneigbor it's the exact same he's just wearing a drifter style of outfit y'know? And in Bunker Hill he's got on some general caravan hand clothes. It's like he's not even trying to hide the fact he's following me!" I groan before slapping the sides of my face to try and calm myself down.  
"Seems like there's only two different explanations as to why this is happening. Either he's just travelling around and finding work where he can or maybe he really is stalking you?" Hancock says, putting a hand on my shoulder to help calm me down.  
"I don't know man, all I do know is it's really starting to freak me out." I sigh again before looking towards Hancock for a response.  
"Like I said, could just be some guy who coincidentally keeps showing up right? I mean given all of the travelling we've done together I can't imagine someone would really wanna tag along just to know what you're up to right? I mean if he really wanted to be your stalker don't you think you'd see him around your own settlements too?" He mentions, trying to be as helpful as possible.  
"I guess you're right. Maybe I'm just over thinking things. We're getting pretty close to Lexington, why don't we find somewhere to camp out for the night when we get there? It'll give me some time to sort out my thoughts before we get back to Sanctuary." I ask, in desperate need of rest.  
"Sounds good kid, I thought I could see it just in the distance but I wasn't too sure. I'm just glad we didn't get ambushed by mutants again." I chuckle at his comment.  
"You can say that again."

By the time we make it to Lexington and clear out a shelter for the night the sun has started setting. I set my pack on the floor and lay out my sleeping bag to sit on, Hancock paces around looking through the windows nervously.  
"You doing alright Hancock?" I ask, trying to pull him out of his trance like state.  
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine, just a little worried about all the ferals around here. I hope those mines we set up will be enough if they decide to gang up on us in the middle of the night," He laughs to himself before continuing, "ah who am I kidding, those numbskulls wouldn't even be able to figure out what that means if it took a whole pack of them." I chuckle as I pull out a bottle of whiskey from the bottom of my pack.  
"Hey man, if that's what keeps you up at night I think you're doing pretty alright." He smirks before laying his own bag out on the other side of the room. Not even ten minutes go by before I hear his snores breaking the silence between us. As I finish my drink I lay back and rest my head on my arm before thinking aloud to myself.  
"Follow the Freedom Trail huh? What could that mean?" I whisper, a sleeping Hancock snoring loudly in response.  
"Alright buddy, I'll keep that in mind." I chuckle to myself before turning my lantern off and turning in for the night.


	2. Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie and Hancock make their way back to Sanctuary to get Preston's advice on what to do next.

I wake the next day and notice the sun is already in the sky, I stretch and look over to see Hancock playing with a switchblade in the corner. He looks up and chuckles at me softly.   
"Morning sunshine, how'd you sleep?" He smirks and I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes.   
"Hnnnn" I groan, unable to say anything coherent. I grab a bottle of filtered water from my pack and drink half of it before looking up at Hancock again.  
"I slept, that's all I can really say." I rub the droplets from my mouth and set the bottle on the floor before standing up and stretching again.   
"Well at least those damn ferals didn't get to us last night, they're still just roaming around aimlessly." Hancock mentions, standing up and walking to one of the broken windows. I roll up my sleeping bag and clip it back onto my pack before fishing out a box of snack cakes.   
"Hey, it's not much but do you want any?" I say, gesturing the box to Hancock. He shakes his head and points over to his pack with an already empty bottle of liquor.   
"I'm already set for the day." He smirks as I roll my eyes.   
"Yeah yeah whatever." I stuff one of the cakes in my mouth before setting the box back down and joining him at the window.   
"You wanna grab the mines or should I?" He comments, giving me a sly look.   
"Well if you really did just drink that entire bottle, I think it'd be best if I grabbed the mines." I smile at him before he punches my shoulder softly.   
"Whatever kid, I'll finish packing up then." He says, heading over to his own pack. I head downstairs to find all of the mines we placed, being cautious of the ferals roaming around. As I pick up the first one I hear the groan of a feral close by. I grab my shotgun from off of my shoulder and kneel down to sneak around. I continue towards the next mine and turn it off before hearing the groan again. I check up and down the road before turning around to see Hancock standing behind me.   
"Shit!" I yell out, jumping. Hancock smirks before groaning again. "You fucking bastard, you scared the shit out of me!" I punch him again before turning around and picking up the next mine.   
"Sorry man, but it was funny you gotta admit." He smirks at me as I turn to glare at him.   
"I assume you're done packing up then?" I ask, he nods before throwing my pack to me. I catch it and throw it over my shoulder before picking up the last mine and putting all of them in my pack.   
"Should we head out then? If we leave now we should make it back to Sanctuary by this afternoon." I gesture towards the caved in wall for us to head out and he nods before walking out. Avoiding the packs of ferals roaming around, we make our way out of Lexington and towards Sanctuary.

"So, after all we've been through in this past couple of weeks.. How you feeling kid?" Hancock breaks the silence as we make our way through Concord.   
"What do you mean?" I ask, dabbing raider blood off of my shoulder.   
"I mean, you've been through so much in such a short time. Heading out into the Glowing Sea, searching through a dead guys memory, killing a fucking Courser?" I shrug and look down to my feet, unable to find an answer.   
"I'm asking as a friend, are you doing okay? We don't have to find these people immediately you know. You're allowed to take a break." Hancock sets a hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently. I look up at him and smile softly.   
"Thanks, Hancock. I think it's taking a toll on me but.. I'll feel better knowing that my son is at least safe. That's all I can ask for right now." He nods but gives me a look of disbelief.   
"Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help alright?" He smiles at me and I nod as we walk past the Red Rocket just outside Sanctuary.   
"I think I'll talk it over with Preston, see what he thinks and if he even knows anything about this code. It feels familiar to me but I don't know how." I draw my voice out, not knowing how to continue.   
"Then let's find Preston." Hancock says, a smile on his face. I smile back and nod as we cross the bridge, making our way into Sanctuary.

"Jamie! It's good to see you again!" I hear Preston's voice before I turn and see him walking towards me.   
"Hey, Preston! Sorry I've been gone for so long, we've been kind of busy." I walk up and give Preston a hug before stepping back and smiling softly.   
"Hey, what brings you back here anyway? Another settlement on our side?" Preston's voice goes up excitedly.   
"I wish it was like that.. Could we maybe talk at my place? This is a uh.. secret? I guess?" I say, scratching the back of my neck nervously.   
"Uh, yeah sure no problem." Preston gives Hancock a confused look as I walk away, Hancock shrugs in response. As we make our way towards my old house, we pass by the turrets purring away in peace.   
"Hey, Garvey, the turrets haven't been giving you guys any trouble have they?" I ask, making light conversation.   
"Not at all! In fact we haven't even had to use them since you left last, nothing's been bothering us at all." He smiles at the fact.   
"That's good but I can't help but worry that some raider gang might be using my disappearance as a way to scope the place out. I'll stay here for a couple days just in case." Preston nods and Hancock laughs at me.   
"Always prepared huh?" He says, a smile growing on his face.   
"Better to be safe than not I mean. If I never made it to that vault none of this would be happening right now." Hancock nods quietly as the smile drops from his face.   
"Yeah I guess you're right." He says solemnly.   
"Hey man I'm just messing with you." I say, smirking. Hancock rolls his eyes at me as we walk through my front door. I take a seat on my couch as Hancock and Preston sit across from me in their own chairs.   
"So, Preston, I've got this.. Problem," I start, not sure where to go with it, "Hancock and I just went through hell to get this." I say, holding the Courser chip up.   
"And that is..?" Preston asks.   
"A Courser chip." Hancock adds, I nod.   
"You killed a fucking Courser? Oh my.." Prestons face goes from shock to horror.   
"Well then what do you need me for? I don't think I can help with anything coming from the Institute." I put my hand up and shake my head.   
"It's not like that I promise, we're trying to find some kind of organization, Doctor Amari didn't tell me what they're called but she gave me a code phrase. I was wondering if maybe you had any idea what it could mean." I finish, placing the chip on the table in front of me.   
"Well let's hear it then." Preston says.   
"'Follow the Freedom Trail' it seems so familiar to me and yet I can't remember from where." I say, stopping before I end up beating myself up over it.   
"Well duh, the Freedom Trail in the Boston Common!" Preston says excitedly, before his face drops. "Oh shit the Boston Common, this group really must be willing to risk their life for this sort of thing. Not many people come out of the Boston Common in one piece." He finishes.   
"I mean I survived the first time I went there, to save Valentine from that gang. I'm sure hanging around for a few minutes to figure out whatever the code means won't be too bad will it?" I say nervously.   
"I don't know, kid, I've heard some crazy stories about something lurking in that pond." Hancock chimes in.   
"Like what?" I ask, anxiety growing in my voice.   
"The main one I hear is some crazy huge super mutant that's drugged up." Hancock says it with certainty.   
"Well if it's just a super mutant it shouldn't be that bad should it? I mean we take them on all the time!" I smile feverishly.   
"Not like that, this muttie is jacked up on drugs man, like crazy. From what I've heard around Goodneigbor things damn near ten feet tall." Hancock continued, I gulped audibly.   
"Okay so maybe we should be on the careful side then. I could bring my missile launcher with if that'd be any help?" I say, trying to find an answer.   
"Either that or a Fat Man could probably do the trick it seems." Preston joins in again.   
"So either we stealth our way through the Common or we fight our way with the heaviest guns we've got? I mean I might even have a couple of stealth boys packed away that we could use?" I mention, looking to Hancock for his response.   
"That just might work, depending on how many there are. I think if we go there late at night and stealth our way to the start of this thing, we just might be able to do it." Preston nods in agreement.   
"If you guys can pull that off it'd probably be quite a story to tell." He smiles.   
"Yeah, no kidding." I say, leaning back and rubbing my eyes.   
"That's just assuming we actually can pull it off." Hancock adds. I look over to him, an upset stare on my face.   
"Really Hancock, you gotta bring up the death part again?" I kick my foot out at him before he scoots away.   
"Hey I'm just saying!" He smirks, shrugging his shoulders. I roll my eyes and look back over to Preston.   
"Now that we've kinda got a plan going, is there anything I can do to help out around here? We've got a few days to kill after all."


	3. The Freedom Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting back to Sanctuary and talking to Preston, Hancock and Jamie find themselves rushing to find the Railroad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much ahh, this is my first time posting an actual fic on here and I'm really happy with the outcome. I'm not the best writer but I just wanna tell a story and I hope you guys like it :) also I know I suck at summaries, it was never my strong suit lol.

It reached nightfall before long, I had spent the rest of the day working on upgrading the turrets and talking to everyone around town. As soon as I had finished upgrading the last turret I was called over to the main house to join everyone for dinner, to which I eagerly accepted.  
"Jamie! It's good to finally have you around again, where have you been?" I hear Mama Murphy call to me from her chair. I smile as I take an open spot at one of the tables.  
"Well, Hancock and I got back from the Glowing Sea recently and a couple days ago we took out an Institute Courser." I look over to Hancock and smirk as he finishes his drink.  
"Yeah, Glowing Sea isn't actually as cool as you'd think. No sea at all. Just the glowing." He chuckles and a few others laugh with him.  
"How in the world did you manage to go through the Glowing Sea?" I hear Mama Murphy chime in again, fully immersed in our story.  
"Just a couple suits of prewar power armor and plenty of rad away!" I say, smiling as I dig into the meal placed in front of me. I hear a couple of stifled laughs before everyone begins their own conversations. Some new settlers asking where they'd best fit and an entire discussion about deathclaws later and everyone starts making their way to their own respective homes. Just as I'm getting ready to head out I feel a hand grab my shoulder. I turn to see Preston with a smile on his face.  
"Hey, Preston, what's up?" I ask, concerned.  
"I just wanted to thank you again for everything you've done to help us. You could've just left us back at Concord and yet you didn't and you're still here helping. I'm sure everyone feels the same way I do." I smile at him before responding.  
"Hey, it's the right thing to do. Not only that, but now I have a new family right where my last one had to come to an end.." I stop myself before he pulls me into a hug.  
"That's why I'm so thankful that you're still here with us, Jamie. I know it must be hard to come back to a place filled with memories like that. I respect your enthusiasm to keep helping us." I hug him back before letting go.  
"Thanks, Garvey, I'm glad I got to meet you. Even under the circumstances it happened in." He laughs at that and nods.  
"Yeah, definitely could've had a better start but, I think we're doing pretty damn good out here." I nod in agreement before we head our separate ways.

Next thing I knew I was back at Bunker Hill, but something seemed off this time. I didn't have my pack on and Hancock was nowhere to be found. Not only that but the entire settlement was completely abandoned, and recently at that. I walk around, trying to find any evidence as to why this happened. When I see him.  
"Who the fuck are you? Why are you following me?" I yell out to him.  
"Don't you have like important things to do?" I hear him say.  
"What the fuck are you talking about? What happened here? Who are you?" I yell again, walking closer to him.  
"Hey man, I'm just a trader, doing trade things." I feel like my head's gonna explode just by talking to this asshole.  
"Look, I don't know who the fuck you are or why you're following me but you better fess up now!" I yell out, getting in his face now. I can see through his shades that he's not phased by it at all, no shift in his eyes, no smirk, nothing.  
"Don't wait too long, I'll be waiting for you. Follow the Freedom Trail." He smirks before vanishing as if he was never there. I scream out before I feel someone shaking me violently.

"Who the fuck are you?!" I yell out, opening my eyes and looking around angrily.  
"Woah woah, it's just me kid, Hancock." I look over to see Hancock with his hands raised, backing up nervously.  
"Shit.." I say, rubbing the ball of my hand against my forehead. "Sorry, Hancock, just.. A nightmare." I cut myself off, thinking back to the caravan hand.  
"Wanna talk about it?" He asks, sitting down on the side of my bed.  
"You.. You remember that talk we had a couple days ago right? About that guy I thought was stalking me?" He nods, giving me a confused look.  
"I was back in Bunker Hill but.. It was completely empty. Like everyone just decided to up and leave everything behind. But then I saw him. Just. Just staring at me." Hancock puts up a hand and cuts me off.  
"I'm assuming thats why you woke up yelling huh? You wanted answers?" I nod and throw myself back onto my bed, shoving the pillow in my face.  
"Well what did he say to you?" Hancock continued.  
"All I remember is him saying some bullshit about being a trader and.. And that he's waiting for me. The last thing I remember is him telling me to follow the Freedom Trail." I sit back up, beads of sweat rolling down my face. "Do you think he's a member? Of that group Doctor Amari told us about?" Hancock looks up as if thinking about it.  
"I mean, he could be. A secret organization having someone stalk the Commonwealth's biggest asset? Seems plausible." He comments, looking back at me.  
"We have to find them as soon as possible. I need answers." Hancock nods before standing up.  
"Let's grab something to eat first, I think you could use it." I nod before Hancock walks out to let me get dressed. As soon as I leave my house I realize something's wrong. I head over to Preston to ask what's going on.  
"Hey, Preston, is everything alright?" He turns to look at me with confusion.  
"Yeah, everything's fine, but.." He stops, pulling a letter out of his back pocket. "This was left for you. It was just set on the table of the main house, I figured I'd give it to you as soon as you woke up to make sure no one else would read it or anything." I take the letter from his hands and open it up.  
'Follow the Freedom Trail' is all that's written on it, a long with an inked picture of a lantern on the bottom corner of the page.  
"Uh, thanks Preston, and hey, while I have you here I should let you know. Hancock and I are gonna head out today, I know I said I'd stay a few more days but something has come up and we gotta find this organization soon." He nods.  
"Hey, I understand, you gotta find your son. I'm sure we'll be fine until you come back again." I smile.  
"Thanks for understanding, Garvey, I'll try and be back as soon as possible. If there's anything you guys need when I'm out you know how to contact me." He nods before walking away. I look back down at the note before shoving it into my pocket and walking into the main house and grabbing Hancock.  
"No time to eat, we gotta find this place now." Hancock groans at me through a mouth full of food. "Yeah yeah, be mad at me all you want, but before you go judging me for anything take a look at this," I say, shoving the letter into his hands. He looks up at me after reading it, a grim look on his face. "I was right, he is stalking me."

We make it a long way before deciding to take a break outside of the public library. I shuffle through my things to make sure I still have my stealth boys on hand.  
"Hey, while we're here, got any books to return? I hear you can get some pretty cool rewards if you get enough tokens!" Hancock says while smirking, I roll my eyes at him before downing my bottle of water.  
"I'll keep that in mind next time we're in town, assuming we live that is." I smirk back at him as he smiles and flips me off. "Aww, love you to Hancock." I say laughing.  
"Shall we head over there then? I think that as long as we keep our distance from the pond we should be fine, hopefully." I nod before pulling out a couple of stealth boys from my pack.  
"Here, take two just in case. I have a couple more that I've saved up for an occasion like this." I pull out another one to show him and he nods, putting his away into his own pack. I grab my shotgun from off of my shoulder and we make our way closer to the Boston Common, keeping an eye out for raiders. We pass by Hubris Comics before walking out into the open streets of the Commons.  
"It's so quiet" I whisper to Hancock, he nods while looking around. I point over to the fountain across the pond and we start making our way over to it. I walk up to a sign placed in front of it and read it aloud.  
"At journey's end follow freedoms lantern? What does that mean? Wait.. Hancock do you still have that letter I gave you?" I ask, turning to face him. He nods and hands me the now crumpled up letter, I open it and look at the bottom of the page.  
"Freedoms lantern huh? Think this is it?" I ask, pointing at the ink spot.  
"Must be, what else could it mean?" I nod and put the letter into my pocket. The protectron that had seemed to be broken powered up, Hancock and I instinctively brought up our guns to destroy it before it quietly made its way over to us. I pay no mind to it, instead glancing down at the ground and noticing something written on the trail marker.  
"Seven A?" I look back up to Hancock and he shrugs, looking back down I notice the red brick I gesture to Hancock for him to follow as I make my way up the hill towards the next trail marker.  
"This one says four l, do you think we should write this down? It could be some kind of code or something." I mention, Hancock nods before handing me a broken pencil from his pack. I take the note out of my pocket again and kneel down, laying it on my knee to write on the back of the page.  
"Alright, I got those down, let's keep going." I say, shoving both the pencil and the paper into my pocket and pulling my shotgun out again. We follow the trail to the next marker, taking out some ferals before finding the next marker.  
"Alright, we got two and a this time."  
"A, L, A? The fuck kind of word is this?" Hancock says, I shrug before realizing.  
"Shit! Hancock you're a genius! It's not in order! That's what the numbers are for! We gotta find the rest of them to put the actual word together!" I smile at him and he smirks.  
"Well, I can have my moments." I laugh and to my eyes as we make our way to the next trail marker. We end up getting shot at by some mutants right outside of Goodneigbor but take them out easily, getting the next part of the code written down before Hancock stops me.  
"Hey, would you mind if we stopped inside for a bit? There's someone I think you should meet before we continue." Hancock says, stopping me in my tracks. I turn to him with a confused look before shrugging and following him inside the main entrance.


	4. The Merc

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hancock wants to stop back in Goodneighbor to have Jamie meet someone, little does Hancock know that Jamie already knows them.

I follow Hancock through town and into the entrance to the Third Rail, following him in and greeting Ham at the door before making our way downstairs and into the VIP lounge area.  
"Hey, Jamie, long-time no see, how've you been?" MacCready smiles standing up to meet us.  
"Wait, you guys already know each other?" Hancock says, surprise in his voice.  
"Yeah, Mac is cool as hell, he's my drinking buddy whenever I'm in town!" I smile and MacCready nods.  
"Well shit, that ruins my plans then." Hancock frowns.  
"What plans? I thought this was it?" I say, nervousness showing in my tone.  
"Look, kid, I love travelling with you, but I've been gone for a while now. I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was running smoothly in town since we were here." I laugh softly.  
"Hancock if that's all you could've just said so, you don't gotta pawn me off to Mac here, I'd be glad to catch up with him anyway." I smile and sit in one of the chairs, pulling out my own bottle of liquor from my pack. "Hell, you could use another brain to help us out with this damn code thing anyway."  
"Code?" MacCready chimes in, I nod and pull out the letter from my pocket again. I lay it out in front of him to let him see it.  
"Alright, I guess you're right. I'm just gonna check in with a few people and I'll be back soon." Hancock says, heading for the door.  
"No problem man! Take your time!" I smile and wave as he leaves.  
"So this is some sort of code?" MacCready pipes up again, I nod before starting to explain.  
"What Hancock and I realized before coming in here was that it's not actually in order, the numbers correlate to the order the letters are actually supposed to go in. Going by that and the spaces we have left, it should spell aloa right now, no idea what it's gonna be in the end though." MacCready nods before taking the pencil from me.  
"Here, if you make spaces where all of the letters are supposed to go and fill them in one by one it should be easier to figure it out in the end." He says, marking seven lines onto the paper and filling in the first four letters.  
"There should only be a few left for us to find, going by the first number and all." MacCready nods before handing the sheet back to me.  
"What is this for anyway?" He asks, taking a drink from his own glass.  
"We're trying to find this organization, they're supposed to be able to help me get the code off of this Courser chip we got." I pull the chip out of the back pocket of my pack and show it to him.  
"Huh, if it's got anything to do with the Institute, I'd say you're going after the Railroad." He says, looking up at me.  
"The Railroad? Is that what they're called? Wait… Railroad… aloa… MacCready I think you just figured out the code!" I say ecstatically. I pull the sheet back up and fill in the letters, making space for the d at the end.  
"Holy shit dude, you gotta go find Hancock, you may have just figured out the only way into this wack job organization of theirs." I smile before my face drops and I shake my head.  
"No no I can't do that to him, he just left! I can't just make him leave as soon as we got here!" I frown, not knowing what to do.  
"Well, why don't we leave a word with Charlie and I come with you? I mean there's only a few stops left before the end of this trail right? I mean, I got no idea what's at the end of this but it can't be that far from here. Just tell him we'll be back soon." I nod slowly before smiling at Mac.  
"You know what you're right! We shouldn't be gone for too long so I don't see any problem with that!" I grab the paper from the table and put it back into my pack before throwing it over my shoulder and walking up to the bar.  
"Hey! Charlie! I got a message for Hancock and I need your help to get it to him, could you do that for me?" I ask, sitting down in front of the old bot.  
"Depends on who is asking." He replied solemnly.  
"Oh you know, just the kid who got rid of his little 'rat problem' not too long ago." I say, winking. The bot moves as if nodding.  
"Alright then, what can I tell the mayor for ye?" I smirk and look to MacCready.  
"Tell him that Jamie and Mac went to finish the hunt and we'll be back soon, that's all." He says, smiling back at me. Charlie whirrs a bit before responding.  
"Alright then, anything else I can do for ye boys?"  
"Yeah actually, got anymore hard liquor? I'm running low on my road stash." I hear MacCready make a loud slapping sound and turn to see him face palming me and I smile in return.  
"Oh come on Mac, you can't deny that a drink on the road is good!" I laugh, passing Charlie a stack of caps as he hands me the liquor bottle simple labeled 'whiskey'  
"I won't deny you your guilty pleasures so long as you don't get me involved. I'm the best shot in the Commons for a reason." He smirks, finishing off his drink and setting it on the counter. "Thanks Charlie, we'll see you around."  
"Now don't go getting into too much trouble out there." Charlie responds and we begin walking away.  
"No promises!" I shout over my shoulder, smiling at Macready again.

After dealing with a number of mutants, we find ourselves standing outside of the Old North Church. I take out the note again and hold the marking up to the lantern crudely painted on the wall, looking back at MacCready as I do so.  
"This must be the place, huh?" MacCready nods, rubbing a hand across the painted brick.  
"Guess we should head inside then huh?" He asks, pulling his sniper from off of his shoulder.  
"Yeah, hopefully this will be it for this goose chase." I say, jokingly. MacCready gives me a confused look before shrugging it off and opening the door to the church. We head inside of the dark building and make our way into the main room.  
"I never came here before the war, I heard it was big but this is just insane." I mutter, making my way to the center of the room and looking around the place. I notice another lantern painted on a broken pile of wood and begin to head over there before I hear MacCready yell out.  
"JAMIE! FERALS!" I turn to where he's facing and notice a small group of ferals heading our way. I reload my shotgun before helping to take them out, trying to avoid being bit at the same time. It only takes a couple of shots before all the ferals fall back onto the ground, for good this time.  
"Fucking Christ." I say, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand.  
"Yeah, me too.." I hear MacCready mumble under his breath. I gesture for him to follow as we make our way down the set of stairs and into the church's catacombs.  
"This place could definitely use a deep cleaning.." I mutter, smiling over at MacCready who rolls his eyes in response. We follow the trail of green blood tracing the walls and floors before finding ourselves in front of a large plaque mounted on the wall.  
"Is. Is this it? What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" I say, anger festering in my voice.  
"I honestly have no clue, it looks broken to me." MacCready mentions, coming closer to me. I groan and throw the paper down angrily.  
"Well this is just great! We follow all of these stupid clues and get a broken plaque that does nothing! What a wonderful experience." I begin shuffling around the room.  
"Hey, Jamie, it's getting late. How about we stay in the church overnight and try to figure it out in the morning? If we sleep on it we just might figure it out!" MacCready mentions, walking up to me and setting his hands on my shoulders to calm me down.  
"Yeah.. Let's. Let's just do that. I could use a drink right now anyway." I say, taking a deep breath. MacCready nods and shifts his hand to my waist, leading me back up into the church.  
"We already took care of the ferals too so we should just be able to set up now," I nod as he continues, "besides, there's something I wanted to talk to you about and I think the alcohol might help me get it out." He draws his voice out as he finishes the sentence. I look to him in confusion and he just shrugs it off.  
"Alright. I suppose it's a good thing I got that bottle from Charlie then huh?" I smirk at him as we walk up the stairs, he laughs before pushing me away softly.  
"You idiot." He says, smiling at me from under his hat.


	5. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Macready and Jamie make it to the end of the puzzle, but can't seem to put all the pieces together. After deciding to think it over that night, drama ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, I just quit my job so I've had a lot going on :0 anyway get ready for angst because it's my fAVORITE thing to write. I'm already writing chapter 12 too so I'll probably post again tomorrow too.

After MacCready and I finished setting up our little camp in the back of the church, we settle down and take out our own bottles to drink from.  
"So, I got whiskey, what do you got?" I ask, taking a generous swig from my bottle.  
"I think it's vodka?" He says, turning the bottle around in his hands.  
"You think it's vodka?" I smirk as he rolls his eyes before taking a drink and coughing.  
"Oh yeah, definitely vodka. Actually, how are you able to just down that whiskey with nothing else?" He says.  
"Lots of practice and trauma man." I say, taking another couple of drinks.  
"Oh jeez alright." He smiles before following in suit. After a couple of minutes we both got about halfway through each of our bottles before MacCready turns to me again.  
"So. Uh. Jamie..?" Nervousness shows on his voice.  
"Yeah Mac? What's up?" I look over to see him fidgeting with the cap of his bottle.  
"I know we don't really travel together all that often but, I really like this. That and.. I've missed your company." He says softly, looking up at me.  
"Well hey, I missed you too man. I enjoy your company." I say, taking another drink.  
"No no.. It's not like that.." He continues, I raise an eyebrow at him and watch as he takes a number of drinks.  
"Mac, is everything alright?" I ask, inching closer to him.  
"Yeah I just. God I don't know how to say it.." He mumbles the last part, I get close enough so that I'm sitting right next to him. He looks up at me again nervously before continuing.  
"Jamie, I like you. Like. Really like you." He chokes the last part out, red growing on his cheeks.  
"Oh. I uh. I guess I didn't realize that." I say, feeling the heat growing on my cheeks now.  
"I don't want anything to be awkward between us so you don't have to pretend to feel the same way or anything but, I just wanted to get that out." His voice grows softer, in a split second decision I throw my arm over his shoulder and pull him into my chest.  
"I may not act like it but.. I do know how you feel Mac.." I force the words out as I look away nervously.  
"You do?" Mac says, forcing himself up to look at me again.  
"Yeah.." I mumble, making myself look him in the eyes. I never noticed how light they were until now. Before I realize what I'm doing, I find myself leaning into him. I feel the weight of his shoulder on me and then it happens. I close my eyes as I feel the softness of his lips meet mine in the middle of it all. After a couple seconds pass I pull back, realizing what happened.  
"Mac.. I.." He stops me before I can finish.  
"No, I know, we can.. We can just pretend it never happened. I mean we still have all this alcohol, that can.. help us forget right..?" I hear his voice drop.  
"Mac.." I say, sitting up to look at him again. Before I can continue, he's chugging his vodka as fast as possible. I grab the bottle from him before yelling.  
"MacCready STOP!" I yell, throwing the bottle across the floor. "That's not what I was getting at, Mac. If you'd just listen to me you'd understand. I-" I cut myself off, watching as a tear falls down his cheek.  
"Jamie, I know you're not ready for anything serious. That's why I want to forget this ever happened. Then I won't be upset with myself later on." I grab his arm and pull him into my chest again.  
"Mac, just because I'm not ready now doesn't mean I never will be. It's been hard trying to figure everything out while trying to live another day in this damn wasteland." I look down at him as he nods slowly.  
"I'm sorry, Jamie. I let my feelings take over. I should've asked before doing that." He mumbles, attempting to pry himself away from me. "I'm gonna call it a night, you should too. We still have that weird puzzle to figure out.." He pushes himself out of my arms and settles down in his sleeping bag. I take another drink before putting the cap back on my bottle and setting it in my pack, laying down on my bag. I rest my head on my arm before I feel myself slowly falling asleep.  
"I'm sorry." I whisper before letting sleep take over.

I wake to find myself standing in front of the plaque again, not sure as to how I got there. I turn around, expecting to find MacCready beside me, but no one is there.  
"Hello? Mac? Are you there?" I ask, confused as to how I ended up here in the first place. I turn back to the plaque to see a note taped to it, I rip the note down and look at it closely.  
"You're so close, we need you?" I read aloud, looking around again to see who put the note there.  
"Look, whoever's following me you better stop it now. It's not cool, it's creepy as hell." I can hear the anger growing in my voice.  
"Jamie." I hear a voice call my name, I recognize it but I can't remember where it's from.  
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" I begin turning around in circles, trying to find the source of the voice.  
"Jamie, the plaque is the answer, that's all you have left. You're so close." I hear the voice again, it sounds like it's inside my head.  
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?" I yell out, my voice echoing off the walls of the catacombs.  
I feel a pair of hands grab me and push me before I find myself standing in a dark room.  
"Wh- where am I? What did you do to me?" I ask, still unsure as to where the voice is coming from.  
"Stop right there. Who are you?" I hear another voice now, it's not one I recognize. I turn around to find where it's coming from but can't see anything.  
"Where am I?" I ask, hoping for an answer.  
"Who. Are. You?" I hear the voice call out to me again.  
"I'm Jamie! I- I don't know where I am! Someone help me please!" I fall to the floor, tears welling up in my eyes. "please-" I mutter out the last word before I feel my eyes open.

"Jamie!" I look up to see MacCready kneeling over me, my head is pounding with a headache.  
"Mac? What? What happened?" I ask, pushing myself up off of my bag.  
"You were screaming?? And you're covered in sweat now, are you okay?" He pulls his sleeve over his hand before dabbing it on my forehead.  
"Yeah.. I think so. I think I know what that plaque is for now." I look up at MacCready to see tears in his eyes. "Mac? What's wrong?" I ask, putting a hand up to his face. He smacks my hand away before standing up.  
"I'm fine, Jamie. Let's just pack up and get this stupid puzzle figured out. I expect Hancock is getting worried about now." I push myself up and frown.  
"Alright.." I manage to get it out before MacCready begins walking away. I roll up my bag and clip it to my pack before throwing it over my shoulder and picking my shotgun up from off the floor. I follow Mac as he walks back down into the catacombs, keeping my distance from him. As we reach the plaque I hear his breath hitch.  
"Well, what's your idea?" He says, picking the note off the floor from last night.  
"Here.." I say, putting a hand out for him to give me the note. I walk up to the plaque and mess with it before realizing that the letters can move. I shift it over one and look back at Macready with a smile on my face, he looks away from me and down at the floor. I frown before putting in the letters one by one and pressing the button for the last time.  
"There we go…" I say as I press it, I hear a loud thud as I do so. We watch in awe as the brick wall beside us began to shift and move to open a new doorway for us. I look back over to MacCready who's staring at me with confusion and excitement.  
"Shall we?" I say, gesturing to the now open doorway. He nods before heading into the gap in the wall, I follow close behind into the dark room. As soon as we step inside we're blinded by bright lights turning on.  
"Who are you? How did you find this place?" I hear the voice from my dream.  
"Huh? I'm Jamie, Doctor Amari gave me a code to find this place?" I say, rubbing my eyes to adjust to the new lighting.  
"Doctor Amari told you about us? Why?" I hear the voice say.  
"I- I have a Courser chip. She said you may be able to decode it." I look up to see a woman and two men with large guns by her side. "holy shit" I mutter under my breath.  
"Wait. You have an intact Courser chip? How?" The woman calls out from across the room.  
"I'm trying to find a way into the Institute. They took my son." I say, putting my shotgun over my shoulder to show my peacefulness.  
"Hey, what's going on here?" I hear the familiar voice call out from behind the woman.  
"Deacon? Where have you been? I need Intel." I watch as a man with dark black hair, sunglasses, and a torn up shirt comes out from behind the woman.  
"Dez, do you really not know this guy? He's like the biggest thing in the Commonwealth now!" I glare at him as he finishes.  
"How do you know that?" I ask, trying to keep the anger down.  
"What with your set of skills? I hardly had to know who you were to know you'd eventually find us. I mean general of the Minutemen? That's a pretty big deal." He laughs as if playing it off.  
"Deacon, are you vouching for him?" The woman, Dez, asks.  
"Yeah! I mean how have you not heard of him? He killed off Kellogg too! Thanks for that by the way, he was our public enemy number one." Deacon calls out to me. I feel my face drop into a scowl before he continues.  
"Dez, we need this guy, badly. I mean you heard him! An intact Courser chip! The guy's a maniac!" He chuckles, walking down toward the middle of the room.  
"Well, if you're vouching for him then it's gonna be your mess to clean if anything goes wrong." Dez sighs, gesturing for her men to stand down.  
"Fine by me, boss!" Deacon smiles at her before facing me again.  
"And you," I hear Dez call out, "Follow me, I know who can decode that Courser chip for you." I nod before looking to Macready who pushes me forward to follow her. We walk past Deacon who is still smiling at me from under those shades of his. I glare at him as we pass but he doesn't seem phased by it at all.  
"You're not gonna be a full fledged member of the Railroad until we can get you the proper training. But if you're really interested you can talk to Deacon and learn the basics of what we do. Before we go any further though, there's something I need to know." She stops me before we head down the stairs further into the catacombs.  
"Yeah sure, what can I tell you?" I ask, trying to calm myself down.  
"This is the only question that matters here: would you risk your life for your fellow man? Even if that man is a Synth?" She asks, her tone dropping into full seriousness.  
"Of course, I found the Courser because he was trying to take back a runaway synth. I helped her get free and leave the grasp of the Institute. From everything that I've learned on my journey through the Commonwealth, I hate the Institute and everything they believe in. What they're doing is modern day slavery, and I'm not okay with that." She nods before smiling.  
"I think you just might fit in here then. Another thing, if you do decide to stay with us you need a code name. None of our agents use their real names and that's gonna be the same with you. Choose wisely as it's what you will be called as long as you're with us." She says, waving her hand for me to follow her down the stairs. I look up to Mac and he shrugs, I stop for a second and think.  
"How about Charmer?" I suggest, continuing down the stairs.  
"Charmer, that seems fitting. I'll make sure to let the others know. Now. This is Tinker Tom, he'll help you decode that chip of yours. Under one condition." She stops me in my tracks.  
"Alright, shoot." I say, willing to do anything at this point.  
"We'll give you the code on this chip, but in return we get to keep it." I nod and shrug my shoulders.  
"I mean yeah sure, all I really need is the code anyway." She nods before looking to Tom.  
"Alright Tom, do your thing." It doesn't take him long to decode it before he hands me a sheet of paper with the code on it.  
"There you go! Courtesy of the Tinker Tom!" He smiles as he hands it to me.  
"Thanks but uh, how did you do that so fast?" I ask, surprised.  
"Oh I've done this before, only a couple of times but after the first time it's pretty easy to figure out the Institutes patterns." He smiles at me again before taking the chip and walking away. I nod, putting the code in my pocket so I don't lose it.  
"I guess I'll go talk to Deacon now, see what I can do to help you guys out. Least I can do I mean." I say, turning to face Des. She nods at me before pointing out the door.  
"He should still be out in the room we met in, be careful though. He's quite the liar." I nod, raising an eyebrow in confusion.  
"Alright, thanks for the tip." I say, heading over to the stairs again.


	6. Anger Management

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie is pissed at Deacon but they still get the job done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry for taking so long to post, I live in Iowa and we just had a derecho (inland hurricane basically) and I was waiting for our WiFi to come back but it may take a bit longer considering the amount of damage that occurred. Either way here chapter 6 finally!

I find myself glaring at Deacon while he talks, after a while he finally decided to point it out.   
"Hey man, I know this is a weird welcoming party and all, but what's with the look?" He finishes by taking a long drag off his cigarette.   
"You've been stalking me." I say flatly, anger showing in my tone.   
"What do you mean? Last time I recall we just met." He smirks as he says this, I feel anger seeping through me.   
"Don't fuck with me, Deacon. You've been stalking me and I know it." I feel my voice rising. I pull out the letter from my back pocket and shove it in his face. "If you're not the one stalking me then who left me this fucking note huh? No one else seems to know about me." I feel Mac rest a hand on my shoulder and squeeze it softly. The feeling calms me a bit, knowing he's better after last night.   
"Look, I'm not stalking you, I just heard from around the Commonwealth that someone who looks like you did all that stuff! I just put it together man!" I frown at him, not breaking my glare.   
"Then who gave me this letter huh? Because Dez sure as hell didn't know who I was, Tinker Tom didn't either!" I throw my hands up angrily.   
"Alright, alright. You may have piqued my interest. I heard about you while posted at Diamond City once and I've been interested in your affairs since. You've done some great things for the Commonwealth and we could really use you on our side." Deacon speaks with a tone of certainty.   
"Is that true? Dez told me about your lying problem." I've calmed down enough by this point to speak with a level head.   
"It's completely true, honest. Between meeting you and hearing about what you've done on the radio. It's pretty easy to figure you out." He takes another long draw off of his cig before smirking at me.   
"You really piss me off, you know that?" I say bluntly.   
"Yeah, I have that effect on people." I roll my eyes at that.   
"I can tell, anyway, Dez said you'd have a job for me." I say, wanting to finish the conversation.   
"Huh? Oh yeah! I have this plan, too big for just me but I think it'd be just right for the both of us." He smiles, adjusting his shades to look at me from just above them.   
"Alright, what's the mission?" Deacon tells me about the old Railroad HQ and how something important was left behind. He finishes off by telling me how Desdemona would have to let me into the Railroad if I bring this thing back to her. "Sounds easy enough." I say, turning to face MacCready.   
"Oh, hah, yeah no that's not all it is." Deacon says, a chuckle following.   
"What do you mean by that?" Macready says, suspicion in his voice.   
"Well, the thing is, the place could very well be full of Synths." He laughs nervously.   
"Oh of course it is, and I'm sure you were planning on just leaving that little detail out until we got there huh?" I chime in again, still finding reasons to be upset with him.   
"Well to be completely fair, you never did ask." He smirks at me again and I have to fight the urge to slap it off of his face.   
"Yeah, alright. Laugh it up. We'll do this one thing. If something goes wrong or one of us gets badly injured, I'm out." I say, looking back at MacCready who is nodding in agreement.   
"Seems fair to me, but something tells me that with you on our side, that won't happen." Macready grabs my hand after Deacon finishes, as if knowing what I was thinking.   
"Yeah, whatever. We'll meet you there." I say, looking at MacCready again before making my way to go back through the catacombs. 

When we end up meeting Deacon at the old highway, he's in one of his disguises again.   
"Deacon? Is that you?" I squint at him as we approach.   
"Yeah! Like the disguise? I call it wastelander camo" He smiles and I give him a confused stare. "Right anyway, so before we actually go in and do the whole badass thing, we gotta talk to one of our tourists. He or she should have some Intel on the location for us." I nod, throwing my gun over my shoulder.   
"Seems easy enough, but I'm assuming it won't be." Deacon nods.   
"You got that right, I'll tell you the plan before we actually talk to them but first we gotta find their location. There should be some railsigns around here to help us out." Deacon finishes, leading me up the broken highway.   
"Here we go, a railsign, the arrow in the center indicates a direction. This tells us that the tourist should be up ahead." He points to the sign, hastily painted onto the broken road. We continue up the highway a bit before Deacon points out another railsign, this time painted onto an actual sign. Passing by the sign, we resume our mission before being attacked by some ferals roaming about. After we finish them off we proceed again until we eventually find the tourist he was speaking of. He stops me before I walk up to him.   
"Alright so here's the plan, you take point on the conversation. No matter what he says just say 'mine is in the shop' trust me." I raise an eyebrow suspiciously but nod before lowering my gun and continuing forward. I walk up to the guy in question before he immediately interrupts me.   
"Do you have a Geiger counter? Do you have a goddamn Geiger counter??" He persists angrily.   
"Uh," I say, nervously looking towards Deacon. He nods before I shake it off and continue, "Mine is in the shop?"   
"Oh thank God, but. HQ said they were sending one agent not two. Who the hell is this guy?" I feel my heart beating faster before I hear Deacon interject.   
"Sorry, I'm new. He's just showing me the ropes." Deacon says. It feels like he winks at me from under his shades, but it's hard to tell in the dim light. We finish our conversation with the tourist, learning that the location we're planning on infiltrating is full of Institute Synths ready to take us out given the chance.   
"Well isn't Ricky just a day of sunshine huh? You think he's telling the truth?" Deacon pipes up as soon as we're out of earshot of the guy.   
"I mean, yeah? He seemed pretty pissed about the whole thing to me." Deacon laughs at my statement, I smirk in return.   
"Yeah, I think so too. It's best to go with your gut in this field." He smiles before gesturing for me to follow him again. "So, assuming he is telling the truth. The front entry has mines, Synths and other fun stuff. So our best bet is to take the escape tunnel." I stop in my tracks.   
"Hold on. We're infiltrating a donut shop. And this donut shop has a fucking escape tunnel?" The shock in my voice comes off clear as day.   
"Doesn't everybody have an escape tunnel?" I hear him laugh under his breath. "Seriously though, thank god for that escape tunnel." He sighs softly, I'm just close enough to be able to hear it. He has me take the lead to the tunnel, taking the time to come close enough to me to show me the location on the map of my pipboy. I can't tell why, but feeling the heat of his body close to mine made my heart begin beating faster. I feel my breath hitch as he walks away, letting me take the lead in the mission. I look back at my map and begin the trek towards the escape tunnel. Upon our arrival, I watch as Deacon kneels down and raises his gun.   
"Alright yeah he was telling the truth. Front entrance is swarming with Synths." He stands up and dusts himself off. "Shall we?" He asks, heading through the tunnel.


	7. Tradecraft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deacon, MacCready and Jamie make their way through the beat down donut shop to get a special item. After retrieving it, Jamie starts to feel a little sentimental to Deacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry for the radio silence, I've been in a depressive slump recently and have gotten myself sucked into the Hamilton fandom. Been busy doing historical research because of that lmao. But I'm pushing myself to contibue posting! Also maybe expect a story including Preston in the future hehe

As we get through the door I hear Deacon begin talking.   
"The back entrance is safer, but be ready for gen 1's and 2's." I shift my body slightly, not fully prepared for what's coming next. "On that note, it's time you learn why we're here." He stops, glancing at me from over his shoulder.   
"That would be nice." I comment, smiling towards Macready.   
"We're retrieving a prototype developed by our good Doctor Carrington." I tilt my head in confusion.   
"Who's that again?" I ask.   
"I'm sure you'll meet him back at the church in no time. It's kinda hard to miss him." I nod silently and watch as Deacon makes his way over to a terminal in the corner. Before long I hear him excitedly whispering as he makes his way over to Macready and I.   
"Alright, we should be careful heading in here. No idea what could be-" he stops, noticing another railsign, "This one means danger.. Yeah, we know you poor dead bastard, we know.." I hear his voice shift before he continues forward. We slowly make our way down the concrete platform before I hear the sound of metal hitting water. I squat down, reloading my gun as quiet as possible, before looking towards Deacon and Macready and nodding. We move forward and take out the synth easily, dealing with a single radroach in the process. Following the path again, we come across another railsign.   
"Wait. See the box in the center of the railsign? That means there's a cache nearby. Looks like Maven managed to hide something before.. well you know.." He cuts himself off, passing by me to take a look around. "We got a couple more ahead. Keep an eye out, would you?" He says, muttering under his breath.   
I level my shotgun with my eye and follow him down the concrete steps and into the water below. We take out a couple more Synths before making our way into a clearing full of more. We make our way deeper into the tunnel before coming across a terminal.   
"Another active terminal. We didn't have time to trip the defenses up ahead. Power them up and you can give our friends a little surprise." He smirks, again I have the feeling he's winking at me from under his shades but it's hard to tell. I go over to the terminal and find it's already unlocked, making it easy to power up the turrets ahead. I hear a few Synths trying to take them out before we storm in and take them out, by the time we do I notice the turret in the corner beat to shit.   
"Doesn't look like that really held them back much but.." I say, looking to Macready who smirks and shakes his head.   
"You idiot.." He mutters. We head down the stairs and into another large tunnel, at the end we find a locked door with another terminal beside it.   
"Hey, Deacon, what's with all the terminals?" I ask, peeved by all the work it takes to hack them.   
"Better to have built in defenses right? As long as we build the turrets, these baby's got the rest." I nod before walking up to it, after a couple of errors I finally unlock it.   
"There we go.." I say, watching the door open. I crouch back down and nod to the others before we begin walking up to the double doors ahead of us. Before I even get the chance to open one, I feel the graze of a fusion cell hitting my arm. I throw it back in pain before pulling my shotgun closer and slamming the door open. We take out all of the Synths in the room pretty easily before Deacon speaks up again.   
"Prepare to be shocked, not every Slocums Joe has a massive tunnel complex underneath. We're entering what we call the switchboard, the prototype shouldn't be far now. It's in the center of the complex." I grimace and nod, unhappy about dealing with more of the Synths. I feel Macready grab my arm before I can go any further.   
"You got shot? Why didn't you say anything?" I pause, not sure of what to say. "We need to clean it before it gets infected you- jerk." He mumbles the last part and I smile softly.   
"Well, doctor Macready, how do you think we should go about that?" I head Deacon chuckle as Macready shoots him a glare.   
"Just.. Sit down and I'll take care of it." I smile and do as asked as he begins cleaning my wound.   
"Fuck, Mac, that hurts!" I whine as he pours some vodka over it.  
"Yeah well it's either this or it gets worse, which would you rather?" I open my mouth to object but Deacon chimes in.   
"You know, Jamie, he is right." I watch as he grabs for a fan, smiles, and puts it in his pack.   
"Yeah I know, but still!" I throw my hands in front of me, yowling in pain after doing so.   
"Knock it off and let me finish!" Macready yells, grabbing my arm and putting it back by my side. I feel as he wraps something around it before stabbing me with a stimpak. I grimace again before Macready stands up.   
"There, it should be fine now." I nod, slowly standing up with him.   
"Is baby all better?" I hear Deacon say, chuckling from across the room.   
"Oh shut it glasses." I throw back, smirking.   
"Ooh nice one." He smiles before making his way back over to us. We head over to the stairs leading up into the building before I notice a load of traps in the hallway.   
"I got this-" I say, taking them apart one by one before we stumble into a room full of Synths. "Oh fuck me!" I yell out, barely pulling the shotgun off my back before I begin shooting at them angrily. As we take the Synths out I hear Deacon come up behind me.   
"You know, you could've taken them to dinner first." He laughs and I hear a soft chuckle coming from Macready. I roll my eyes as we walk further into the room. I push the next set of door open, expecting to be hit with more Synths, raising my gun immediately after opening I find the hallway completely empty. We turn the corner to find a couple more Synths, after taking them out and looting them I find myself face to face with a giant bank vault. I watch as Deacon heads over to the terminal beside it and begins tapping away at the keys, not long after I hear the door begin to open.   
As the door opens, Deacon heads over to a body on the floor and kneels down.   
"So, Tommy Whispers didn't make it.. He died protecting our secrets.. Lemme see.. There." He picks up a pistol before standing up and facing me. "Tommy would want you to have his hand cannon. Don't let its size fool you." He holds the gun out to me.   
"But, why me?" I ask, not knowing whether to take it or not.   
"All of our best agents have weapons made by Tinker Tom he's.. well you know." I nod and smirk, taking the pistol in my hand. " Now, if you'll grab Carringtons prototype and turn that over to Desdemona. She'll have to let you in." He smiles before motioning over to the corner. I nod and head over, finding an odd looking machine. Its size and frame makes it look like a stealth boy, which it is surrounded by.   
"Lets head up the elevator, should be easier dealing with the chrome-domes from this side of the field." Deacon speaks up again, I nod and make my way out of the room and down the hall. Opening the next set of double doors, prepared to be shot at yet again. After taking the had off of one and the arm off of another, we deal with the remaining Synths in the area.   
"There we go, just power up the elevator and we're good to go." Deacon says, walking past me. I head over to the terminal and power up the elevator before following Deacon and getting on. We head up and find ourselves standing in front of a blocked entry, I push on it to find that it's a bookcase. We make our way up and out of the building, finding ourselves face to face with everything Ricky told us about. After dealing with the Synths, turrets, and mines, we finally take a breath.   
"We did it. Wanna meet back at the catacombs?" Deacon asks, walking up to meet us.   
"Deacon, it's late at night, you wanna go through all the shit to get back now?" I ask, glancing at Macready who gives me a stare.   
"I mean, it's better than staying here and possibly being blown to bits by more Synths isn't it?" He asks, turning away from me. "look, I'd love to stay and chat but if I'm gone for too long Dez will start freaking out over me being missing again. Don't really need that right now." He looks down as he says this.   
"Alright, I guess we'll meet you there then" I say, inching closer to him. He smiles before nodding and walking away, I walk up to the door and watch as he leaves. I feel a pain in my chest seeing him leave but I ignore it, turning back to Macready.   
"Should we uh..Find somewhere to stay for the night then?"


	8. Heartstrings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie and Macready have a little 'heart to heart'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REPOST! My bad, the last chapter was saved on here for some reason so here's the /actual/ chapter 8!

I wake up the next day, Macready laying next to me, in the shelter we cleared out the night before. I rub my eyes and stand up to stretch before noticing the empty liquor bottles on the floor.   
"Hey, Mac, were we drinking last night?" I ask, not remembering much after Deacon left us at the donut shop. I hear Macready mumble something under his breath before he turns to face me.   
"Jamie, what do you remember from last night?" He asks, sitting up in his sleeping bag. I try to think back to the events of the night before but come up with nothing.   
"The last thing I remember is watching Deacon leave, why? What happened?" I walk back over to Macready and notice his eyes are red. He'd been crying. "Woah are you okay? What happened?" I ask, kneeling down beside him. I raise a hand to his face but he smacks it away.   
"Jamie, you drank yourself into a fit last night. Saying shi- stuff like how Deacon makes you feel fuzzy inside and stuff. I thought you hated him?" I take a step back, my cheeks growing warm.   
"I- I did? I don't remember that at all, I don't even really know how I feel about him in all honesty. But, if that's all then why were you crying?" I sit back, still trying to recall the night before and still coming up with nothing.   
"Jamie. After that night in the church, I just. I don't know. I think it'd be best for us- me to forget last night. Considering you don't seem to remember it yourself." He says it so calmly that it almost scares me.   
"Mac-" I say before he cuts me off.   
"Jamie, I'll help you get that prototype thing back to the church but then I think we need to part ways for a bit." I shut my mouth in awe, not knowing what to say. I nod my head solemnly before turning away.   
"If that's what you want then I won't stop you, I don't want to hurt you Mac, you're one of my- my best friends.." I say in a dry tone, I can sense him grimace at my words.   
"Then let's get going." He says, almost under his breath. I nod again and begin packing my things up, noticing the hangover starting to kick in. 

After we finish packing up our things we begin our trek back to the church, keeping our distance and silence as we follow the beaten roads. After nearly an hour of the silence I decide to turn on my radio so the time goes by faster. Of course it begins playing the worst song for the given circumstances. 

I don't want to set the world on fire~  
I just want to start a flame in your heart~ 

After the first two lines play I look to Macready, he's kicking rocks and trash that lay strewn on the road. As I look ahead again I hear him speak.   
"I'm sorry about earlier.." It feels as though he was choking to get the words out.   
"I'm sorry too, I don't remember much from last night but from what I can tell it was very inappropriate of me." I inch closer to him slowly, still keeping a good distance between us.   
"I understand if you don't wanna continue travelling with me after this, even if I'm the one who brought it up." He looks up at me and frowns slightly.   
"I think you're right in that we need a break from traveling together after what happened at the church but.. I don't wanna stop travelling with you all together Mac, you may have started out as just a drinking buddy but.. I trust you and that's hard for me to do these days." I don't bother bringing up Deacons habitual lying, knowing it would probably upset Macready again.   
"I trust you too.. I just hope we can get past all this." He steps a little closer to me before I hear the song pick up again. 

I don't wanna set the world on fire, honey   
I love you too much   
I just want to start a great big flame, down in your heart 

After the lines play out I pull my pipboy up and shut it off.   
"I uh.. wasn't planning for that song to play…" I say nervously. I hear Macready laugh softly.   
"It's not like you could've" he smiles and looks at me, I smile back before looking back at my pipboy and checking the map.   
"We're not too far from Goodneigbor now.. do you wanna stop there? I can get back to the church by myself, I mean I don't really expect you want to see Deacon again.." I offer an escape for him, knowing that seeing Deacon would fire him up.   
"I think that's a good idea.." I nod and mark my map for Goodneigbor and we make our way there. 

After getting to Goodneigbor and saying my goodbyes to Macready, I find my way back to the Railroad hideout. I stand outside the church for a moment before heading inside, not sure what events were about to follow. I walk back through the catacombs before finding myself facing Desdemona again, though Deacon seems to be telling her a different version of events from the night before.   
"And the new guy patched me up, threw me over his shoulder, and blasted his way through the rest of the complex!" I smile knowing that he's still lying to get me into the mix.   
"And he was carrying you the entire time?" I hear Dez ask.   
"Amazing, right?" Deacon smiles, turning his focus to me as I walk closer. "There's the man of the hour!" I roll my eyes and step up to Desdemona.   
"Deacon tells me you singlehandedly secured Carringtons prototype, disabled a minefield, and took out a hundred gen 1s. Is any of that true?" I sigh and glance at Deacon, he smiles and nods quietly.   
"I mean, it's not all true but he's definitely not wrong. The only difference is I'm the one who got shot." I turn to show Desdemona my shoulder and she grimaces at it.   
"Oh yeah that's not good. But either way that's a big feat to accomplish. I was thinking we'd have to get a whole team including Deacon and Glory but you managed to do it yourselves." Deacon smiles again before speaking up.   
"Soooooo?" He speaks with such excitement in his voice that it's hard to mistake for anything else.   
"Alright fine, you can join the Railroad for sure." I smirk and nod.   
"Thanks for the opportunity." I say happily, interested in where this group will take me.   
"Now, about the prototype. Take it to Carrington, he'll know what to do from there." Desdemona finishes before turning and walking into the HQ. I feel Deacon's gaze before I even turn to him.   
"So," he starts, "what happened to your little boy toy huh?" I give him a confused look.   
"My boy toy? You mean Macready? Because he's not- we're not-" I stop, not sure of what to say.   
"Hey man, I was just picking on you. He seemed to be really protective of you after all." He definitely winks at me this time before smirking at me. "So, what happened?"   
"I.. I don't want to talk about it. He'd get upset if I did." Deacon raises an eyebrow at me.   
"Well, if he's not with you at the moment. Why don't we join forces huh? I mean I think we made a pretty good team back there." I look up at him and see him smiling softly. I think back to what Macready said this morning and shrug it off.   
"I'm not saying it'll be anything permanent.. But I think that could make my travels a little more interesting." I watch as his smile grows wider.   
"Of course! I'm not gonna force anything on you man, after all I don't really feel like being chased around the Commonwealth by that sniper of yours." I give him a glare before smiling myself.   
"I don't think he'd do that. He's back in Goodneigbor right now so I could use a.. Friend.. To travel with." His smile goes to a surprised look, as if shocked by my statement.   
"You consider me a friend? Damn, I thought you hated me." He chuckles and I roll my eyes.   
"I mean yeah, you got a lot of nerve stalking me and all but.. I think we'd make a pretty good team in the long run." He shrugs before speaking up again.   
"Hey, in due time and learning more about each other I'm sure I'll tell you more. No promises though." I roll my eyes again.   
"Yeah and how much of it will be true huh? I mean carrying you on my shoulder? Come on man." He laughs and I feel a smile spreading across my face.   
"You gotta give me a couple bonus points for that one, that was great." I groan before punching his shoulder.   
"Whatever, let's get this thing to Carrington." I smile before we head into the HQ and make our way over to Carrington, who does not seem happy in the slightest to see me.   
"Ah, our newest agent." He says, somewhat angrily.   
"Uh.. Desdemona told me to give you this." I say, handing him the prototype.   
"An extraordinary feat to recover, but that's hardly the point. Without any training and us barely knowing you, Desdemona has decided to let you in." I take a step back, not sure how to think about the situation at hand. "Would've been nice if she'd consulted with her second in command but no. What's done is done." I hear him sigh and I look over to Deacon who gives me a thumbs up. "Since you're here I might as well put you to work."   
"Just tell me what you need, Doc." I say, trying to be as polite as possible.   
"One of our field agents, Old Man Stockton, needs help with a runaway synth. H2-22," I nod as he continues, "So as always, HQ puts out the fires that others can't be bothered to put out themselves. Paranoid old bat won't even tell us the problem. Insists that we get our Intel from a dead drop." I give him a confused look before finally speaking up myself.   
"Um.. What's a dead drop?" Carrington seems to get angrier at my question.   
"Oh dear lord, a dead drop is a mailbox with a railsign on it." I take another step back, feeling my heart begin beating faster and my skin growing hot. I take a few deep breaths before he continues.   
"It's a common means of communication for us, so keep an eye out." He calms his voice down, as if noticing my stress. "When you meet with Stockton he won't give you the time of day unless you give the proper countersign. Please tell me Deacon told you that at least." I nod as he goes on. "Right, Stockton is a prominent businessman at Bunker Hill. The dead drop will be near there. Use the escape tunnel in the back to get there quicker." I nod again as he begins to walk away, I sigh softly and Deacon comes closer to me.   
"He's quite the hot head, I know. Don't worry about it though, stay with us long enough and you'll have to get on his good side." He smiles at me and I feel my cheeks growing warmer.   
"So uh, this escape tunnel? We should.. Probably get going." He nods before taking me through the emergency exit.


	9. H2-22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> H2-22 quest. I'm bad at summarizing I'm sorry.

As we exit the building leading out of the escape exit, I find myself looking out over the lake and towards Bunker Hill. The sun shining on the tower softly in the afternoon heat. I feel Deacon coming up from behind as I speak up.  
"You know, I never thought that a nuclear wasteland could be this beautiful." I turn to face him as I say this.  
"You got an eye for aesthetics, for being well over 200 years old Bunker Hill is in pretty damn good shape." He smiles at me and I feel a tug in my chest. I look back at the tower before sighing and making my way out of the building. We head down the street a while before Deacon points me to take a left, I follow his direction before coming across a mailbox sitting next to a beat up car. I pull a holotape from out of the mailbox, putting it into my pipboy and playing it.  
"Update. Absurd unusual activity has ceased. Window is open for a heavy to contact, but they should act now. The package is still in my possession. It cannot remain here safely for much longer. Out." We listen as the older man speaks, I glance up to Deacon who seems as confused as I am. As the holotape plays out we begin making our way back down the road and toward Bunker Hill. We speak with Old Man Stockton who seemed to be very into his covert talk, he gave us the details on a 'delivery' he needs help completing. After doing a little trading with the travelers in town, we head out toward the location Stockton wanted us to clear out. We come across an old police station with a few raiders out front, after taking them out and looting them some ghouls come out and attack us from both sides.  
"You know, travelling with you definitely isn't dull." I hear Deacon call from over his shoulder, beating a feral in the face as he does. I smirk before shooting a feral of my own in the face.  
"Gotta say the same for you Deacon, didn't expect things to be this interesting this early on." I speak up as we turn and find ourselves outside of a church with a couple of raiders camped out inside.  
"Ladies and gentleman! It's time for a massacre!" Deacon yells out as he takes one of the raiders out in a single shot, I stand still astonished at what he'd just done before snapping back and taking a couple shots at the remaining raiders. We make our way into the church before either of us speaks up again.  
"What the fuck was that Deacon? How the hell did you pull that off??" I ask excitedly, he shrugs before chuckling.  
"I honestly have no clue man, I just got really lucky with that first shot!" I gasp audibly.  
"Holy shit. That was amazing!" I watch as a blush rushes across his face.  
"Oh uh, thanks." He smiles at me softly as I bring my pipboy up to check the time.  
"Well, it's only about 5 now, we have a couple of hours to kill before our package arrives. What do you wanna do?" I ask, looking around the building before feeling a hand grab my wrist. I'm pulled towards Deacon, who is now standing mere inches away from my face.  
"I mean, we could make that sniper of yours jealous" he smirks as I roll my eyes and push him away slowly, my heart racing in my chest.  
"Oh come on, Deacon, you know I don't feel that way." The words come out on their own, though not completely true.  
"Alright I'll stop messing around." He smiles before walking up to a skeleton and grabbing it's hand, waving it at me. I smack my face with my hand before eventually deciding to just sit down and read through the issues of Grognak I'd collected over the past month. After reading through a couple of pages I feel a weight next to me on the back of the bench, looking up I find Deacon beaming down at me.  
"Whatcha reading?" He asks, seeming to be genuinely interested.  
"Just going through a couple Grognak issues I've found while travelling." I say, looking back down at the comic in my lap. I feel the weight shift behind me and turn to watch Deacon jump over the bench and sit next to me.  
"Mind if I join you?" He asks, smirking at me.  
"Sure, I mean we have time to kill." I smile softly, turning the page slightly to let him read it along with me. After a couple of minutes I feel him coming closer to me before realizing he'd put his arm around my shoulder on the bench. I feel my face start to heat up as I glance over at him. His cheeks are a soft pinkish color, making me blush even more. I get ready to say something before a loud thud comes from outside and draws our attention, we both grab for our guns immediately before realizing Stockton came earlier than expected with a Synth in tow. I realize a second later that as Deacon was pulling his gun out from behind the bench, he had effectively whacked the back of my head with it.  
"Oh shit, Jamie are you okay? I didn't mean to do that!" He kneels down in front of me as I rub the back of my head softly.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you boys that badly." Stockton speaks up.  
"No, no. I'm good. Just give me a second." I say smiling lightly, glancing up at Deacon who still seems worried about me. He lowers his gun as I begin to stand up.  
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asks, concern in his tone.  
"Yes, Deacon, I'm going to be fine." I walk up to Stockton and the Synth, smiling at Deacon as I pass.  
"Boys, this is H2-22. H2, here's the person I talked to you about." Stockton begins, giving me room to speak up.  
"Nice to meet you, H2." I say, smiling at the nervous individual.  
"Another person actually happy to meet me.. This will take some getting used to." H2 speaks cautiously, it's easy to see how nervous he is after escaping the Institutes wrath.  
"Remember what I told you, H2," Stockton speaks with H2 before turning back to Deacon and I, "I'll fire up the signal." He turns and walks toward a lantern in the window before lighting it, the fire gently lighting the room with a warm haze. "It's time for me to go, keep H2 safe. Someone will be here shortly." Stockton says before making his way out of the beatdown church. I nod before looking back at Deacon who is eyeing H2, I give him a confused look and he just shrugs in return. Not even a few minutes later we hear someone coming to the door.  
"Wait! Don't shoot!" A man walks up to the door before introducing himself. "It's Charmer, right? Names High Rise. And my man Deacon, still with the same old face? It's been 3 months man! You're getting slow." High Rise and Deacon laugh for a second before Deacon speaks up.  
"I've been meaning to go to the face doctor, but who has the time?" He says, smiling. High Rise turns back to me before speaking again.  
"I heard about you, followed the Freedom Trail, cleared out the switchboard. Glad you joined the team." I smile, glad to be recognized for something so recent.  
"Nice to meet you." I say, glancing back over at Deacon who nods to me.  
"Honors all mine, let's take a look at our friend shall we?" High Rise speaks up again, making his way into the church. H2 is cautious at first before being able to speak up. "Hey you, you okay?" High Rise speaks to H2 softly.  
"A little rattled but.. Never better. The other man.. He said I shouldn't speak much." H2 speaks so softly that we could've heard a deathclaw from 10 miles away.  
"He told you right, H2. You'll need a new name and a new face, but we'll get to that.. Oh uh, there's some more raiders behind me. Afraid we need a little more help." High Rise turns to me and I nod.  
"More raiders, not a problem." I say, smiling gently. H2 appears more nervous now that more danger is coming.  
"You headquarter heavies mean business. We need to get to Ticonderoga Safehouse. My home. A lot of Synths fresh off the boat crash there before we smuggle them out of the Commonwealth." High Rise's voice goes deeper as he explains the situation in detail.  
"It's nice of you guys to do that for us." I say, trying to be optimistic.  
"Yeah, I'm working off sins from a misspent youth. I'll lead the way." High Rise finishes and begins leading us down the road, I try to keep an eye on H2 as we pass by the old broken down homes. We head into a clearing before immediately being shot at by a gang of raiders. I pull out my shitty sniper and kneel down behind a bush. After taking aim at the turret and taking it out, I pull my shotgun back out before heading up and taking a few shots.  
"Ow ow!" I hear Deacon yelling, I look over to him nervously before realizing he has a smile plastered onto his face. After taking out the remaining 3 raiders, I turn around to find High Rise on the ground. I run up to him and kneel beside him.  
"Hey, are you okay?" I say frantically, searching my pack for a stimpak.  
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just need a couple seconds to let the pain leave." He lets out a deep breath before standing up slowly.  
"Are you sure? I have plenty of stimpaks if you need one?" I ask, holding out the syringe in my hand, he waves it away before letting out another deep breath.  
"We're almost there, I'll be fine." I nod solemnly before putting the stimpak in my bag again. High Rise leads the way past the raiders base and towards an old bridge, we follow him to the right headed towards the giant building ahead of us. High Rise stops us at the bottom of the stairs.  
"And we're here, all in a night's work for you agent typed huh?" He says, chuckling.  
"So uh, is this a normal operation?" I ask, concerned about my future with the group.  
"More normal than I'd like, usually I can take care of these things all by my lonesome. But other times it's like the damn raiders are holding a convention. Working with you made it a whole lot easier." He smiles at me before continuing. "If you ever need anything, feel free to stop by. Take the elevator up, my house is yours. And Deacon. Try not to give the rookie too much shit?" He finishes, looking over at Deacon who is smiling.  
"Hey man, no harm no foul." He says, chuckling softly.  
"Deacon may be a terrible liar, but it's always good to have him on your side. Later." High Rise finishes, motioning for H2 to follow him up the stairs. As soon as they're in the elevator up I turn to Deacon.  
"I hope H2 gets the help he needs, he seemed genuinely afraid. If this is how runaway Synths feel, I want to take the Institute out." I look up at Deacon who smiles lightly.  
"That's the kind of energy that makes you perfect for the cause, I'm glad you joined us." I nod lightly, looking down at my feet as I think back to earlier.  
"So uh the sun's not up yet.. Should we find somewhere to lay low for a couple hours?" I look back up to Deacon to find him blushing, he turns away from me before saying anything.  
"Uh- yeah- We could head back to Bunker Hill and get a room there if you want?" He coughs dryly, as if trying to distract from his behavior.  
"Yeah, sure, why not." I smile as we make our way down the main road and turn back towards Bunker Hill, completing our somewhat circle of a mission. We find our way through the small caravan town before meeting up with Tony and renting a room from him. As we make our way up the stairs I realize that I only rented the single room.  
"Oh shit uh.. Do you want to go rent one for yourself or-?" I say, offering a hand full of caps out to Deacon.  
"I mean, I've got a sleeping bag that I can lay out if the bed is the problem.." He says, motioning to his pack. I nod, feeling another tug in my chest, somewhat relieved that he wanted to stay with me. I lay my bag down beside the lone mattress on the floor before falling into the comfort of a bed. Deacon smiles at me as he rolls out his sleeping bag and lays on it.  
"So.. About earlier.." I look over at Deacon who is laying with his arms crossed under his head.  
"Hmm?" He says, looking over to me.  
"Back at the church.." I speak softly, trying not to bother any other tenants.  
"Oh.. What about it-?" He looks away nervously, a soft smile forming on his lips.  
"Well I guess I just.." I'm cut off by a signal coming from my pipboy, I turn on the radio and hear a familiar voice coming through.  
"This is a message for the General, if you're hearing this, they need your help in Sanctuary as soon as possible." I sit up as soon as the broadcast ends, looking over at Deacon who is resting his weight on his arms and he sits up as well.  
"No rest for the wicked, huh?" I say, grabbing my bag from the floor and throwing it over my shoulder again.  
"I guess not." Deacon speaks softly, chuckling as he stands and rolls up his pack. As we finish getting our things together, I notice the sun beginning to rise. Making our way back out of Bunker Hill and following the main road towards Ticonderoga again, we watch as the sun rises in the horizon. It's light waking us enough to continue our journey for another day.


End file.
